When Simon first came to us, he was near death. Weeks later, after he was able to stand and eat on his own, I came out to the pasture one morning and he stood and turned to me and let out this ear-rattling bray of greeting. It was a beautiful sound, a call to life and it still is a beautiful sound. I ran into the farmhouse and I told Maria it was like hearing the angels sing. Simon was telling me he meant to live, and so he has.  Simon greets us with his bray every morning and several times a day. Our new neighbors have even come by to say they love hearing this cheer for life.

I get more requests for Simon’s bray than anything and a long time reader who is gravely ill e-mailed me yesterday and asked if he could hear Simon’s call to life at least one more time. Sure thing. The angels sing all the time, I thought and so I went out this morning and got some shots of the call to life her in its various forms – Simon, Rocky in his stall, Minnie the barn cat, Red at work,  the chickens emerging from their coop, the dogs beginning their day so eagerly. I came across an older clip of Rose herding some sheep at the other farm, the first Bedlam Farm, and so I added that as well. The angels never sing louder than when Rose was doing her beautiful work, another kind of call to life.

For me, Simon’s Bray has always called me to hear the angels sing, to open my heart to love and experience, to listen to the better side of my angels. Every day I rise and I fall, I move forward and fall back, I am touched by the human spirit and discouraged by it, I am proud of myself, I am not. This is the journey, as Simon showed me, taught. From the worst of the human experience to ecstatic experience, the gift of awakening is to hear the call of life, to listen to the angels sing. No matter how badly you stumble or how much it sometimes hurts, you get up each morning and heed the call.

I will always be grateful to Simon for that. Come and share this with me.